Sunday, July 27, 2025
Pea, Avocado and Mint Blini グリーンピー、アボカド、ミント ガスパッチョ
Ingredients (made 15 blini):
2 cups of “Pea, Avocado, and Mint gazpacho”
6 tbs melted butter
3/4 cup sour cream
6 large eggs, beaten
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup + 2 tbs. cake flour
1 Tbs + 1 1/2 tsp. Baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
enough additional cream or buttermilk to make it the texture of pancake batter
Directions:
Put the gazpacho in a bowl. Add the egg, the melted butter and sour cream, then add the flour, baking powder and salt and whisk until well blended. (You may need to add more cream so the batter is the consistency of pancake batter.)
In a cast iron platar, melt 1 tablespoon of butter. Use the melted butter to grease each of the platar cups before adding the batter. Pour the batter into the cups until they are mostly full (#1). Cook over moderately low heat, turning once, until set, about 5 minutes per side (#2 and 3). Repeat with the remaining butter and batter.
We thought this would be a great way to use the left over gazpacho as we did using mashed potatoes. The outside was crispy but the inside was mushy and lacked uniform bubbles which characterize a good blini. Despite cooking, the grassy flavor of the pea came through. Although certainly edible, we did not enjoy it. But we learned something so we will not be discouraged from experimenting with other ingredient variations to make more /other blini.
Monday, July 21, 2025
Pea, Ricotta ad Mint Gazpacho えんどう豆、リコッタチーズとミントのガスパッチョ
Ingredients:
4 mini-cucumbers, seeds removed and cut into cubes (14 ounces total)
Flesh of 1 ripe avocado, cut into chunks
2 cups frozen baby green peas
1 cup whole-milk ricotta cheese
1/2 cup chopped scallions (white and green parts)
1/4 cup water (we used chicken broth)
(We omitted parsely)
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, plus more to taste
1 clove garlic
Fine salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil, for serving
Directions:
Prepare the peas. Since they were frozen we simply thawed them in a bowl with some hot water. In a Vitamix, combine the cucumber, avocado, peas, ricotta, scallions, water, chopped mint, lemon juice and garlic and puree until smooth. Season lightly with salt and pepper, and blend again, just to incorporate. Taste, and add more lemon juice, as needed.
We served this in a small bowl. The puree had a thick consistency which made us think of a pea smoothy. We made it a bit more soup-like with the addition of milk (or cream) and a drizzle of oil. The pea and avocado flavors dominated. As mentioned the overall flavor was a bit grassy but it tasted more fresh than unpleasant. A great way to eat your veggies in the hot humid summer.
Thursday, July 15, 2021
Mint panna cotta ミントパナコタ
Now that my wife is making buttermilk she has to come up with ways to use it. It is an heirloom culture so it can be used over and over again but it has to be used every week or so to stay healthy. So she is experimenting with different variations of dessert panna cotta. Or as she refers to it “variations on a theme by Paganini*”. No hardship for me. Keep them coming.
* This expression refers to a work by Johannes Brahms based on the caprice No. 24 in A minor by Niccolo Paganini. The work consists of two books. Each opens with the theme Paganini’s caprice No. 24 followed by fourteen variations. Hence variations (of panna cotta) based on a theme.
Ingredients:
1 tsp gelatin
1 1/2 tsp water
1/2 cup 4 % milk
1 cup fresh mint leaves bruised with a meat pounder or torn into pieces (to release more flavor)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup buttermilk
Sauce:
1/2 cup water
1 cup fresh mint bruised
1/4 cup sugar
Directions:
Bloom the gelatin in the water. Add the milk and mint to a sauce pan and gently heat to infuse the milk with the mint flavor. Continue gently heating until mint flavor is to taste (as shown in the second picture). Strain the milk mixture and put it back in the pan. Add the sugar and gently heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Let the milk mixture cool to room temperature. Add the buttermilk and vanilla. Distribute to the serving jars. Chill in the refridgerator until the mixture is firm.
For the sauce:
Put the water and mint in a sauce pan. Heat until the the water has a mint flavor to taste. Drain and return liquid to the sauce pan. Add the sugar and heat the mixture until the sugar has melted. When it has reached room temperature top off the serving jars with the mint sauce.
Again, this a very nice dessert. It is very creamy in texture. The mint flavor infuses throughout and very refreshing. Another good way to finish a meal.
Thursday, June 3, 2021
Mint and pea kakiage ミントと豌豆のかき揚げ
Sometime ago, I saw this recipe in the web version of a Japanese newspaper. I thought mint and pea kakiage (a type of tempura made with several small food items) かき揚げ was very interesting and unique but was dragging my feet in actually making it. The mint crop is flourishing in our herb garden and my wife harvested some to make mint tea recently. She reserved some mint leaves for me to use for this kakiage (so I found myself fresh out of any excuses for not making it.) Finally, I made this dish one weekend evening. I served it with wedges of lemon and green tea salt.
Ingredients (I did not precisely measure anything but it made four kaiage tempura).
About 1 cup of fresh mint leaves, washed and dried.
About 1/2 cup of peas (I used frozen petit peas, thawed).
Cake flour for dusting.
Peanut oil for frying.
For Tempura batter
About 1/2 cup cake flour
Cold carbonated water.
Directions:
Lightly dust the mint leaves and peas with the cake flour (#1 in the third picture)
Mix the cake flour and the carbonated water to make thin tempura batter and add the peas and mint leaves (#2)
Using a slotted spoon, I scooped up the mint and peas and slid the clump into the hot oil (350F) (#3)
Turning once, I fried them until crispy and slightly golden then drained them (#4)
We couldn’t taste much of the peas but this was very light, airy and crunchy with refreshing mint flavor. Perilla leaves, which are a bit similar to mint leaves, are a standard tempura item which I have used in several variations but mint leaves are certainly unique. Since we have a good supply of fresh mint leaves during the summer, we might try this in different combination...asparagus and mint immediately comes to mind.
Addendum
I made this dish again a few days later. I also found the original recipe and only thing I missed was adding potato starch (should equal 1/2 the amount of cake flour used). I also added fresh corn. I lowered the hot oil temperature to avoid browning. All worked better.
Saturday, May 11, 2019
Spinach and mint cake ホウレン草とミントの緑のケーキ
My wife made icing from cream cheese and honey.
The icing is not too sweet but added a nice taste and texture.
Ingredients:
1 cup raw spinach (packed) (or skip the spinach and replace it with 1 cup mint)
1 cup raw mint (packed)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup olive oil
2 tbs. lemon juice
2 cup flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
Frosting:
1 block of Philadelphia cream cheese
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp. vanilla
Directions:
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and then set aside (#1). Put the spinach, mint, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice and sugar in a blender and puree. Then with the blender on a slow speed add the olive oil to make an emulsion (#2). Add the vanilla and mix in. Add the spinach/mint mixture to the flour (#3 & #4). Put into a greased 6" x 8" inch baking pan that has been lined with parchment paper (to made it easier to get the cake out of the pan when it is done #5.) Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean (#6).
Frosting:
cream the cream cheese in a mixer. Add the honey and the vanilla and continue creaming until it becomes light and fluffy. Slather it on the the cooled cake.
Wednesday, June 20, 2018
Cold mint tea 冷ミント紅茶
After the plumber left, the neighbor showed up at the back door with a bag full of mint cuttings for us to take home and plant in our garden. My wife started to say "Thank you..." when the neighbor stopped her and wagging a finger said "Never thank someone for a plant cutting or it won't grow; it is an old Pennsylvania Dutch custom." Not missing a beat my wife said "...for helping with the house." The neighbor smiled, nodded approval, handed over the bag full of cuttings then said, "you're welcome." We planted the mint in several places in our yard after coming home and this year it has become established enough that we can make mint tea using the neighbor's recipe. Every time we taste this tea it reminds us of the time we first tasted it.
We served it in our favorite very thin Japanese tumbler (called "Usuhari"うすはり) which we bought several years ago when we visited Japan.
Ingredients:
Several handfuls of mint (to taste) (#1)
8 cups of water
1/4 cup sugar
3 Lipton (cold brew or iced tea) bags. Cold brew can be made without hot water but according to the package, it can also be made using hot water.
Directions:
Tear up the mint leaves (the neighbor stressed they should be torn, not cut) to increase the flavor.
Add the sugar (#2) and add the water (#3). Bring the water to the boil. Immediately turn off the heat and add the tea bags. Steep the tea for 5 minutes (#4). Strain the tea into a glass container and let cool. Serve cold.
The way my wife makes this tea it is not too sweet. The mint really comes through and this is very refreshing summer drink. We even occasionally take some to work to drink in the afternoon.